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People!
Anger is good sometimes. At least I think so. I was going to ask, was
not someone going to respond beyond the list to the execrableness of the
test to which our esteemed colleague informed us?
Hell, I'll do it.
The California Department of Education has a complaint form. I
completed the form including the below. Before I send and "get into
trouble"; Sr. moments, anger, and all that; I post the below.
bc
p.s. If the reader doesn't immediately delete, she will probably use the
archive, so my deleting LW is unnecessary. Perhaps, Larry would
appreciate being known as the rabble rouser?
Well meaning people! [Is this too insulting?]
I am a member of the Physics-L list. I quote from its home page,
"PHYS-L is a list dedicated to physics and the teaching of physics with
about 700 members from over 35 countries, the majority of whom are
physics educators. Traffic varies from zero to sixty messages/day with
an average of about ten per day. All postings are archived.
Noninflammatory, professional and courteous postings intended to inform
members on how to better understand, teach and learn physics are always
welcome."
http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/PHYS-L/
I add, it includes, in addition to HS, College, and University Physics
instructors, specialists in Physics Educational Research (PER) and
Physics text book writers.
On the fifth of this month a member of the above list posted two
questions from "your" recently posted Physics Standards. Test.
<http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/documents/css05rtqphysics.pdf>
It resulted in one of the longer threads [44 posts by 21 members] of the
last few years.
Here's much of the post that initiated the "strand":
-----------------
"The following released test questions are taken from the Physics Standards
Test. This test is one of the California Standards Tests administered as
part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program under
policies set by the State Board of Education.
All questions on the California Standards Tests are evaluated by
committees of content experts, including teachers and administrators, to
ensure their appropriateness for measuring the
California academic content standards in Physics. In addition to
content, all items are reviewed and approved to ensure their adherence
to the principles of fairness and to ensure no bias exists with respect
to characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, and language."
What do you folks think of the following questions:
3. A student wires a series circuit that includes a
block of rubber and a light bulb. She states that
she does not expect the light bulb to light up
when current is applied to the circuit. Which of
the following best describes her statement?
A It is a conclusion based on observed data
about electrical phenomena.
B It is a hypothesis based on knowledge of the
theory of electrical phenomena.
C It is a procedure based on her hypothesis
about electrical phenomena.
D It is a theory based on her observations of
electrical phenomena.
8. A ball is thrown straight up and then falls
straight back down. When it attains maximum
height, the ball's velocity is
A equal to its displacement.
B equal to its displacement divided by the time.
C at its maximum.
D at its minimum.
cut
------------------
The last post (yesterday) was the response by the initiator of the
strand. It follows:
-------------------------------------------
"Thanks to all of you who responded to my original question that started
this strand. Now I'd like to let you know what I think of these
questions. Not much obviously. Many of my opinions have already been
mentioned by others.
Problem 3.
i. Current is not applied to a circuit. Current is usually said to be
injected into a circuit.
ii. The logical way to read this question is as follows: Suppose a
certain amount of current is applied to a circuit containing a light
bulb and it lights up. Now suppose that I inject the same amount of
current into this circuit, which now includes a block of rubber. As I
see it, there is no other logical way to interpret this problem. In this
interpretation, the light bulb will of course light up. So the question
is immediately confusing. And it indicates that the test writer does not
really understand the difference between current and voltage.
iii. The answers.
If the student had made this circuit at an earlier time, one could
conclude that her statement is based on her observed data. So A is correct.
If the student knew about the electrical properties of materials and
circuits, but had not done the experiment yet, she could hypothesize
that the circuit would not light. So B is correct.
If the student knew about the electrical properties of materials and
circuits from previous experiments, she could make a theoretical
prediction about the behavior of this circuit. So D is correct.
One has to also ask the question: what is the point of this question?
Does this question demonstrate the student has some understanding of how
science
is done? I think not.
Problem 8.
i. As others have pointed out, the question is really asking about the
ball's speed.
velocity, one would assume that students (and the test writer) know the
difference between velocity and speed. Apparently not.
ii. If the ball is thrown up with a velocity of 2 m/s, at the top its
velocity is 0 m/s and it lands with a velocity of -2 m/s, then obviously
the ball has neither its maximum or minimum velocity at the top. This
assumes that the students (and the test writer) know about negative numbers.
Therefore, the correct answer is not shown.
I'd give both questions a failing grade."
cut
--------------------------
From the above I hope it is obvious why the questions provoked such a
large number of responses. It also provoked, reading between the lines,
some anger.
bc